Wf)c  l^ealing  ^rt 
in  Cijina 


Bi/  BISHOP  J.  W.  BASHFORD 


BOARD  OF  FOREIGN  MISSIONS 
OF  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
CHINA  CENTENNIAL  COMMISSION 
150  FIFTH  AVENUE 
NEW  YORK 


Printed  in  February,  1907 


THE  HEALING  ART 
IN  CHINA 


I^Iedical  work  in  China  is  a providential  method  of  opening 
new  regions  and  fields  for  the  gospel.  The  medical  missionary 
follows  the  example  of  the  Master,  who  went  everywhere  teach- 
ing and  healing  the  sick.  The  work  combines  the  best  features 


THE  LAME.  THE  HALT.  AND  THE  BLIND  AT  MARTYRS’ 
MEMORIAL  HOSPITAL.  CHANGLI.  NORTH  CHINA 


of  practical  Christianity  and  Christian  humanitarianism,  for  it 
relieves  suffering  in  a land  where  the  suffering  of  the  people  con- 
tinually fills  one  with  compassion.  IMedical  work  has  proved  the 
most  effective  means  of  disarming  prejudice,  conquering  hostility, 


4 


THE  HEALING  ART  IN  CHINA 


money. 

A certain  city  of  forty 
thousand  inhabitants  in 
the  Anhwei  Province 
was  exceedingly  hostile 


THREE  PATIENTS  AT  THE  CHUNGKING 
HOSPITAL 


and  opening  doors.  Chi- 
nese Christians  have  been 
able  to  point  hostile  per- 
sons to  man  after  man. 
woman  after  woman,  .child 
after  child,  whose  life  has 
been  saved  by  our  mission- 
ary physicians  when  the 
Chinese  had  abandoned 
the  patient  to  death ; and 
no  Confucianist  or  Bud- 
dhist in  China  will  speak 
against  such  humanitarian 
service. 

In  the  city  of  Taian, 
Shantung  Province,  the 
presiding  elder  went  to  one 
of  the  leading  officials  and 
said : “I  have  failed  to  get 


HOSPITAL  CHAPLAIN  AT  NANKING 


certain  money  from  the 
United  States.  As  the 
patients  in  our  hospitals 
are  your  own  people, 
perhaps  you  will  help 
us.’’  The  official  took 
the  subscription  paper, 
and  answered : “I  am 
not  a Christian,  but 
leave  your  paper  here 
and  I'll  raise  the  money 
for  vou.  e all  believe 
in  vour  medical  work.” 
And  he  raised  the 


THE  HEALING  ART  IN  CHINA 


5 


to  Christianity,  and  no  missionary  had  been  able  to  enter  it.  A 
woman  from  this  place  went  to  our  hospital  in  Wuhu,  and  was 
cured  of  a terrible  malady.  She  went  back,  proclaiming  what 
had  been  done  for  her  body  and  for  her  soul,  and  now  there  is  a 
flourishing  work  in  that  city.  Thus  the  medical  missionary  is  the 
‘■John  Baptist”  of  this  enterprise. 


UNBINDING  A BOUND  FOOT  AT  HINGHUA 

i\Iedical  work  not  only  prepares  the  way  for  the  gospel ; it  is 
directly  evangelistic.  In  connection  with  every  dispensary  there 
is  a chapel,  where  the  patients,  while  waiting  to  be  treated,  are 
told  why  the  missionary  has  come  to  China,  and  thus  they  learn 
of  Jesus  Christ,  of  his  love  for  men,  and  of  the  salvation  which 
he  brings.  Ten  to  twenty  thousand  persons  are  treated  annually 
at  the  dispensaries  of  each  of  our  hospitals,  and  these  are  reached 
with  the  gospel.  Religious  meetings  are  held  for  the  in-patients 


6 


THE  HEALING  ART  IN  CHINA 


THE  HOPKINS  MEMORIAL  HOSPITAL.  PEKING 


THE  HOSPITAL  AT  CHENTU.  WEST  CHINA 


r. 


THE  HEALING  ART  IN  CHINA 


1 


THE  HOSPITAL  AT  YENPING.  SOUTHERN  CHINA 


WARD  SCENE.  PHILANDER  SMITH  HOSPITAL  AT  NANKING 


8 


THE  HEALING  ART  IN  CHINA 


and  the  aim  of  the  hospital 
physicians  in  visiting,  and 
in  country  work,  is  to  dispel 
the  terrible  malady  from 
w h i c h the  soul  suffers 
through  sin,  as  well  as  to 
heal  the  body. 

At  the  ^lethodist  Hospi- 
tal at  Kucheng,  Fukien 
Province,  a blind  man  one 
day  appeared,  one  of  the 
leading  and  well-known 
gamblers  of  the  city.  He 
had  lost  his  eyesight 
through  his  gambling  hab- 
its and  late  hours.  He  was 
successfully  treated  and  his 
eyesight  was  restored.  He 
then  was  led  to  repent  of 
his  sins,  and  ever  since  has 
been  a devoted  Christian. 
He  has  gone  from  place  to 
IN  THE  OPERATING  ROOM  place  telling  the  story  of 

his  past  life  and  of  his 
present  salvation ; and  although  he  has  been  a Christian  only 
six  or  seven  years,  thousands  have  already  heard  the  gospel  from 
his  lips,  and  many  have  been  saved  through  his  consecrated 
efforts.  Thus  does  the  hospital  work  continually  win  souls  for 
the  Master. 

But  our  twenty  hospitals  do  even  more  than  relieve  150,000 
to  200,000  sick  people  each  year,  and  open  the  way  for  the  gospel 
to  lead  hundreds  to  Christ.  They  are  introducing  Western 
medical  science  among  over  400,000,000  people.  While  the  pre- 
vailing medical  practice  in  China,  after  age-long  experiment,  has 
stumbled  upon  a few  simple  remedies,  nevertheless  it  rests  upon 
the  grossest  spiritualism.  Diseases  are  attributed  to  evil  spirits 
which  have  entered  into  and  are  tormenting  the  body;  and  the 


THE  HEALING  ART  IN  CHINA 


9 


NURSES  AT  SINGIU.  SOUTHERN  CHINA 

Chinese  practitioner  attempts  to  drive  out  these  diseases  by  mak- 
ing a horrible  din  in  the  sick  room,  by  giving  nauseating  drugs, 
by  sticking  needles  into  the  body  of  the  patient,  and  by  cutting 
or  burning  it.  Such  superstitions  disappear  before  the  Christian 


DR.  GEORGE  A.  STUART  AND  MEDICAL  GRADUATES  AT  NANKING 


10 


THE  HEALING  ART  IN  CHINA 


physician,  as  darkness  disappears  before  the  sun.  Christian 
hospitals  are  the  pioneers  of  Western  humanitarian  science,  and 
they  are  rapidly  transforming  medical  practice  among  400,000,- 
000  human  beings. 

The  medical  work  is  established  at  our  chief  stations.  Gen- 
erally a hospital  is  built  which  accommodates  in-patients,  and  at 
which  there  is  a daily  dispensary.  Occasional  visits  are  made 
to  city  patients  by  the  physicians,  and,  where  possible,  medical 
evangelistic  trips  are  made  into  tbe  country,  where  the  sick  are 
treated  in  their  own  villages. 

Medical  missionary  work  affords  a unique  opportunity  at  the 
present  time  for  reaching  all  classes  of  society ; it  also  links 
Christianity  with  the  best  that  Western  science  has  to  offer  and 
thus  gives  it  prestige  among  the  Chinese.  So  thoroughly  are  the 
higher  class  Chinese  coming  to  recognize  the  value  of  medical 
work  that  at  some  cities,  such  as  Antau  and  Xanchang,  they  are 
offering  to  build  hospitals  for  our  church  if  we  will  supply  the 
physicians.  Here  is  a splendid  opportunity  to  do  the  Master’s 

work  in  China  today. 

The  present  lack  of 
Chinese  hospitals  equip- 
ped for  modern  medical 
practice  makes  our  op- 
portunity one  that  can 
be  grasped  by  a smaller 
outlay  of  money  than 
will  be  possible  a few 
years  hence.  Because  of 
the  advance  which  med- 
ical science  has  made  in 
Japan  it  is  now  impossi- 
ble to  establish  a hospi- 
tal there  that  will  com- 
mand respect  unless 
twenty  or  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars  be  ex- 
pended at  the  begin- 
HOSPITAL  STAFF  AT  YENPING  ning.  In  China  no%v 


THE  HEALING  ART  IN  CHINA 


one  can  be  planted  for  five  thousand  dollars.  What  a vast  oppor- 
tunity ! For  such  a moderate  sum  pagan  practice  can  be  over- 
thrown among  millions  of  people  and  the  gates  of  the  kingdom 
of  God  pushed  open  for  the  entrance  of  the  Great  Physician. 

The  cost  of  maintaining  a bed  in  a hospital  in  China  varies 
according  to  the  location  of  the  hospital  and  also  with  respect  to 
the  differing  conditions  of  patients.  Sick  Chinese  who  do  not 
require  special  diet,  prefer  to  provide  their  food  while  in  the 
hospital,  but  when  a special  diet  is  necessary,  the  cost  of  main- 
taining the  patient  is  greatly  increased,  because  many  articles, 
such  as  proper  milk  and  other  foodstuffs,  which  the  physician 
must  prescribe,  can  be  obtained  only  by  importing  them.  Beds 
can  be  supported  in  the  hospitals  at  Yenping,  Kucheng,  Nanking, 
Wuhu,  Peking,  Changli,  Chungking,  and  Chentu,  at  from  $25 
to  $150  each  a year. 

Write  to  Dr.  F.  D.  Gamewell,  150  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York 
city,  for  any  special  information  desired  concerning  medical  mis- 
sion work  in  China. 


